Florida Manatees

By Dorothy Riley

Every year as the Gasparilla Boat Parade makes its way toward the Tampa Convention Center, Auxiliarists are assigned duties that often position them far from the madness and the fray. This year was an exception.

In past years, many Auxiliarists escorted members of Tampa Bay’s Manatee Watch. This organization helps to protect the manatees from accidental injuries by recreational boaters and conducts an annual count to track the animal’s dwindling numbers. This year, the Auxiliary did not provide this service, but TampaBay’s Manatee Watch monitored at least eight manatees. While keeping a watchful eye over Florida’s manatees may not offer the same thrill and excitement as being amid the boat parade, it is not a less valuable service. Florida’s manatees are an endangered species protected by both state and federal laws. The sheer number of boaters during the Gasparilla Boat Parade, combined with the high rate of alcohol consumption during these festivities, increases the threat to these gentle creatures tenfold. To all of our members who participated in the annual manatee watch—thank you! If you were fortunate enough to catch one of their snouts breaching the water’s surface, it is a thrill you will never forget!

Here is some general information about our manatees, one of Florida’s greatest treasures:

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Manatees are large mammals of the order Sirenia, named after the Greek mythological sirens thought to lure sailors to their graves. There is, however, nothing sinister about these slow-moving, gentle giants more closely related to elephants than to any other Mammalian order. They are very tactile creatures, are known to touch swimmers deliberately, and inanimate objects in the water and are never

The West Indian (Florida) manatee was once abundant throughout the tropic and subtropical western North and South Atlantic and Caribbean waters. Today, the West Indian manatee is listed as an endangered species throughout its range. The range of the Florida manatee is primarily peninsular Florida but extends as far north as Rhode Island. Manatees have been rescued near Houston, Texas, and Mississippi.

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Adult West Indian manatees average about 10 feet in length, but large individuals may reach lengths of up to 13 feet. Average adult weights are approximately 800 to 1,200 pounds. One particularly large Florida manatee weighed 3,650 pounds. Females are generally larger than males.

Despite their large size, when a boater spots a manatee, it is often no more than its snout breaking the water’s surface for air. A manatee’s body is streamlined but thick in the middle and ends in a paddle-like tail. They are gray, and their bodies often are scarred from brushes with propellers, sharp protrusions on boat docks and piers, or fishing hooks and lines.

All manatees live in warm, tropic, or sub-tropic waters in temperatures above 64 degrees. They prefer shallow waters near shores, inlets, and mangroves where vegetation is plentiful. Manatees feed on more than 60 species of plants, including turtle grass, manatee grass, shoal grass, mangrove leaves, various algae, water hyacinth, acorns, and Hydrilla. The shallow

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